According to new research, the Zika virus is able to infect people even after sitting out on a counter for several hours. But the good news is – it is also easy to kill with common household chemicals. The new study found that the Zika virus — which can produce severe brain defects in fetuses and young children — can be highly contagious even after hours of living outside a host. Zika virus is transmitted to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito. These are the same mosquitoes that spread dengue and Chikungunya viruses.